Guide to

Brainstorming
Contents
 What is brainstorming?
 Why use brainstorming techniques?
 Brainstorming is not a structured meeting
 The process of brainstorming
 The environment
 Setting the scene
 Rules for the session
 A brainstorming technique
 Affinity analysis
 Summary and future action

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What is brainstorming?

 Brainstorming is a means of generating ideas.

 Brainstorming can be used to identify alternatives, obtain

a complete list of items and to solve problems.

 There are a variety of brainstorming techniques.

 The common principle of brainstorming is to set aside the

restrictive thinking processes so that many ideas can be
generated.

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When to use brainstorming?
You can use brainstorming in a project when:

 Developing the solution definition, particularly in

identifying alternative solutions.

 Identifying all potential risks on a project.

 Developing the Work Breakdown Structure (identifying all

the deliverables and work items).

 Dealing with difficult problems that arise during the

course of the project.

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Why use brainstorming techniques?
Brainstorming can:
– break through traditional thinking about a problem.
– generate new ways of thinking.
– provide an environment for building on new ideas.
– reduce the tendency to prematurely discard new ideas.
– facilitate team building.
– encourage team problem solving.

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Brainstorming is not a structured
meeting
Brainstorming is: Structured meeting is:
– Idea generation – Fixed agenda

– Issue generation – Chairperson

– Divergent thinking – Minutes

– Open format – Action items

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The process of brainstorming

 The environment

 Setting the scene

 Rules for the session

 Running the brainstorming session

 Affinity analysis

 Summary and further action

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The environment

 Location: preferable to be held away from

normal place of work

 Room: natural light, plenty of space

 Materials: whiteboard and pens. Provide a pack

of post-it notes and pen for each attendee

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Setting the scene…

 Explain the brainstorming technique.

 Specify the rules.

 Loosening up: use a free thinking exercise and/or a practice

brainstorming session*.

For example: how could safety of taxi drivers be improved?

* The facilitator provides exercises and determines when

the participants are ready to proceed with the technique.

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Rules for the session

 Any idea is valid

 No judgement or criticism allowed

 Mobile phones switched off

 Participants cannot leave the room during the

brainstorming session

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A brainstorming technique

 Present the problem or opportunity for which

brainstorming is being applied

 Allocate 3-5 minutes to write on the post-it notes as many

ideas as possible – one idea per note

 Each person quickly writes their thoughts onto the post-it

notes regardless of how impractical, outrageous,
extreme, crazy they may be (do not filter the ideas)

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Affinity analysis

 Each person in turn sticks their post-it notes on the

whiteboard, putting their note near to an idea that is
similar to theirs. This should result in clusters of post-it
notes representing similar ideas.

 Review the ideas by cluster. For each type of idea ask

the group “How could we make this work?” Discuss each
variation of the idea and refine to develop a possible
solution.

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Summary and future action

 Write up a summary of each type of idea/solution

presented.

 Determine an action plan for working through the ideas.

 The action plan may be to test or further research the

alternatives identified to select a shortlist of the most
suitable solutions for further evaluation.

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